Albany council holds extended strategic planning work session; tweaks goals on climate, housing, equity and resiliency

Albany City Council convened a special strategic planning work session on Feb. 25 to review accomplishments under its April 2023–March 2025 strategic plan and to give staff direction on goals and objectives for the next two years.

The two-plus-hour discussion, led by facilitator Sean Spano and Albany staff, covered six strategic goals — climate action, housing, streets and transportation, community connectivity/equity, finance, and public health/safety/resiliency — and produced a series of council preferences and drafting instructions rather than formal votes or ordinance actions.

Why it matters: Council members said the review helped them assess which items should stay above the operational “waterline” as strategic priorities and which can move into routine staff work. The meeting produced verbal agreement to revise language on the climate goal, expand tree/urban-forest work, add a housing-element objective, refine transportation objectives that target disconnected neighborhoods, and fold community equity outreach into a broader engagement approach while preparing for wildfire-related resilience.

Council and staff framed the session around the existing plan’s structure (goals → objectives → staff work plans). Facilitator Spano asked members to confirm whether each goal should remain a strategic priority and, if so, which objectives should stay, be removed, or be reworded.

Climate and electrification Councilmembers supported renaming the climate goal to sharper language. After discussion the council agreed to change the goal wording to “Reduce greenhouse pollution and adapt to climate change.” Vice Mayor McQuade and others said the wording is more direct than the previous phrasing.

Staff reported recent climate-related work: 18 grant-funded multifamily EV charging installations completed, a first-phase program funding 22 households for heat-pump HVAC conversions, a new ordinance to reduce building-electrification barriers, and ongoing planning for EV capacity at city facilities. Spano said the gas-line decommissioning project will return to council with funding options and cautioned that federal funding remains uncertain.

On urban trees, councilmembers asked to broaden the existing “street tree” objective to an “urban forest” objective. Councilmembers noted disparities in canopy coverage across neighborhoods and discussed policy choices such as city-led watering of new trees to improve survival rates. Staff told the council it expects a street-tree/urban-forest plan to return for policy decisions this spring or summer; those policy decisions would determine whether the work moves to routine operations.

Housing and Albany Hill/Measure K Staff summarized housing work: updates to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) and zoning density-bonus standards; formation of a full Housing Advisory Committee; continued rent-review and landlord-tenant counseling via Echo Housing (about 70 participants annually); and larger state-driven changes to housing law that affect local code.

Council agreed to add an explicit objective to “fulfill housing element commitments” (i.e., complete the tasks the city promised to the state under its housing element). Members also asked the city attorney to check whether recent state law has legally superseded local ballot measures and zoning limits (a question raised about a previously proposed ballot change addressing single-family zoning). The council discussed Albany Hill and Measure K throughout as related items; staff described a tentative 2026 timeline for any Measure K-related ballot and noted environmental review and coordination with Albany Hill planning would be required.

Transportation, parking and EV charging Staff gave updates on the active-transportation plan and street-lighting study (completed February 2024) and said sidewalk repair work is in Phase 10 funded by a prior ballot measure. The active-transportation plan is expected to be completed in 2025.

The council debated an Albany Hill shuttle concept but agreed it is expensive and unlikely to be cost-effective without outside partners; several members preferred to keep the idea in a “parking lot” of concepts and to broaden the objective to “increase transportation connections for disenfranchised portions of the city,” allowing staff and elected officials to pursue multiple approaches (e.g., AC Transit coordination, pilot programs, grant-funded options). Members also discussed license-plate readers and other parking-technology options but noted reworking parking rules and block-by-block enforcement would be a larger, downstream conversation tied to possible Solano Avenue changes.

Communications, website and community equity Staff previewed a new city website planned to go live in the second quarter of 2025 and showed a status update that tracks cross-departmental implementation of the strategic plan. Council members repeatedly emphasized ongoing communication and outreach as an operational priority.

On equity work, the council agreed to move away from a single large “racial equity survey” contract that had stalled and toward broader, consultant-assisted community engagement and assessment. Councilmember Jordan recommended a flexible approach that could include focus groups, affinity-group engagement (including youth leadership), workshops and targeted outreach rather than a single paper survey. The agreed objective was framed as: “Explore community engagement and assessment to advance equity and inclusivity,” with staff to return options on scope and cost.

Finance and revenue Staff recapped recent revenue items: the city’s sidewalk measure and other local ballot-authorized funds, an MOU with UC Berkeley providing approximately $400,000 annually for UC Village operating costs and $200,000 for equipment, and ongoing work to modernize the business license tax and to review development-impact fees.

Councilmembers pressed staff to continue answers to a question raised in the meeting: whether existing property-tax/fee language permits collection on unsecured parcels (examples cited include properties on UC-owned land that currently do not generate expected local revenue). Staff said the city attorney is reviewing ordinances and will report back; councilmembers requested staff return concrete next steps and cost estimates.

Public health, safety and resiliency Staff confirmed work to implement the seismic-retrofit ordinance adopted in 2023 is underway and that the first-year retrofits are expected to be completed in late 2025. The council combined two preparedness objectives into a single, ongoing direction: continue disaster-preparedness efforts, community engagement and training, “including but not limited to urban firestorms.” Members asked staff to continue regional coordination on sea-level rise and to bring the Albany Hill forest-management and habitat-restoration plan to council (staff indicated an Albany Hill presentation and recommendation was scheduled for the March 3 meeting).

What the council directed staff to do - Return draft language reflecting the renamed climate goal ("Reduce greenhouse pollution and adapt to climate change") and proposed wording changes to the urban-forest objective. - Provide a plan and schedule for implementing the street-tree/urban-forest recommendations and, where appropriate, funding options. - Report back on housing-element implementation steps and on whether state law supersedes any existing local ballot measures or zoning limits; prepare timing and cost estimates for potential Measure K / Albany Hill actions tied to environmental review. - Develop options for transportation and connectivity that prioritize disenfranchised neighborhoods (including potential funding approaches and regional partnerships), and keep high-cost shuttle concepts in a parking-lot list unless new funding appears. - Return options and probable costs for a community engagement/assessment approach to equity work (consultant vs. staff-led hybrid), including potential phased or pilot approaches. - Provide the city-council with results of the city attorney’s review about property-tax/fee treatment of unsecured parcels and options to capture additional revenue if legally available. - Advance implementation steps and funding strategies for Albany Hill forest-management work and include wildfire-specific preparedness steps within the city’s preparedness and response program.

No formal votes were taken in the session. Council members used the work session to provide direction; staff said recommendations and draft language will be returned for formal adoption at future public meetings.

Ending: Staff said it will synthesize council feedback into draft objectives and actions, bring back recommended language for formal adoption at future meetings, and circulate a status update and web-based implementation catalog for public review.